The Kids of War and Peace
by Monroe-Militia
Summary: AU starting late season 2. Danny didn't die, but just went missing and was presumed dead. After escaping from the Patriots, Danny is surprised when he wakes up to find that a strange girl has helped hide him. (Danny/Heather and Charlie/Connor)
1. Chapter 1

Danny's feeling of victory was very short-lived as he stumbled out across a field, recognizing nothing in his path. He knew that it wouldn't be long before the Patriots would realize that he was missing and at this rate, with his stiff legs barely carrying him as he tried to stumble towards what looked like it might be a train-yard, his great escape was likely to be cut short. He managed to make it across to the other side of a gate before he erupted into a coughing fit and collapsed to the ground. He fell back with his weight against a chain-link fence as he fought to catch his breath.

He hadn't been sure whether he should search for help, since he wasn't sure how much the townspeople trusted the Patriots and he was certain that his current appearance didn't send out the kind of message that tended to put strangers in a welcoming mood.

He didn't have to worry about making that judgement call for long though since he soon heard footsteps approaching him. Someone had clearly heard him choking and had followed the sound of his coughing fit to him. He tried to look up at them, but before he could make out anything beyond a pair of brown leather boots, his vision faded to black.

* * *

When he woke up, he wasn't sure how much later, Danny found that he was lying down inside a bedroom with a couple of blankets pulled over him. He moved to sit up a little and flinched at the pain that shot through his chest, where his skin was still decorated with bruises left over from the Patriots' hospitality.

"You're awake." He turned towards the source of the sound to spot a curly-haired brunette leaning against the frame of the doorway. Her arms were wrapped around her waist as as she peered over at him. "You were out for a couple of hours there."

"Why did you help me?" He asked as he leaned back with his head against the bed's headboard.

She hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and took a couple of steps into the room. "The enemy of my enemy, right?"

"So then people here don't like the Patriots?" Danny questioned as he felt a wave of relief wash over him.

"Not exactly," she admitted as she stopped, still a few steps away from him. "How long did they have you in there for?"

"Not sure," he responded. His eyes darted down to the raw flesh on his wrists from where the cuffs had dug into his skin before he looked back over at her again. "I lost track a while ago."

"What did they get you for anyways?" The girl asked as she eyed him from where she was standing. She still seemed a little unsure of what to make of him.

"Being born into the wrong family," he responded with a shrug. "I guess they were keeping me to use as leverage... How about you?"

"What do you mean?" She asked as her brow furrowed in confusion.

"You said they're you enemy, but people around here don't see them that way," he pointed out. "So what did they do to you?"

"It wasn't to me," she responded. "It was to my brother." She paused for a moment and looked around the room that Danny suddenly realized was probably her brother's. "They brain-washed him. Changed him into someone I didn't even recognize to use him as one of their weapons. Now he's dead."

"I'm sorry," Danny told her.

"It's not your fault," she responded as her gaze dropped to the floor. She took another step closer to him and then told him, "And not everybody is falling for the Patriots' acts. There's a few people getting together to try and stop them."

Danny sat up further and clutched at his side as a surge of pain shot through it before asking, "Where?"

She took another step forwards and her hand moved to his shoulder to stop him from sitting up any further. As he looked from her hand to her face, a slight blush formed on her cheeks.

A nervous smile formed on her lips as she told him, "Me and my dad are meeting with them tomorrow. You can come too, if you really want, but right now you need to rest."

"I need to do something," he insisted. "Not just lay here."

"Then get some sleep. You need to heal," she told them.

"Alright," he agreed before he leaned back in the bed.

She turned to walk away, but paused halfway to the door and turned to look back over at her shoulder at him as she introduced, "I'm Heather by the way."

"I'm Danny," he told her. After a pause he added, "Thanks... For helping me."

"I couldn't just leave you lying there all bloody and walk away, could I?" She questioned as she shot him a small smile. "I'll be back with some food and water in a bit."

* * *

"We need more than just two untrained amateurs," Miles complained.

"My daughter found a prisoner that escaped from the Patriots," Joe responded. "They should be here anytime. He's pretty beaten up, but he should still be able to help. Kid's sure motivated enough according to Heather."

"Great," Miles responded just as sarcastically. "Now we have three amateurs and some injured kid who's more likely to get in the way and get us killed than-"

He cut himself short with his mouth hanging open as Joe's daughter came into sight with a surprisingly familiar boy at her side.

Charlie shot a confused look over at her uncle when he stopped talking mid-sentence, then followed his line of sight and froze as a giant grin formed on her lips at the sight of the pair in the distance. "Danny!"

She rushed over to her brother, who picked up his own pace to head towards her. As she reached him, she moved, as if to embrace him, but instead came to a screeching halt right in front of him and grabbed his face in both of her hands. She pulled at the skin under his eyes frantically, needing to be sure that the Patriots hadn't brain-washed him and tattooed him while he had apparently been being held prisoner.

"What are you doing, weirdo?" Danny asked as he tried to swat her hands away. "Get your hands out of my eyes." He couldn't believe that, after all the time he had been missing, this was how she was choosing to greet him.

Charlie didn't let the insult get to her as relief washed over her when she found that there were no numbers tattooed on the inside her brother's eye. She let out a small laugh of disbelief as she wrapped her arms around him tightly and buried her face in his shoulder.

He winced a little as she held onto him in her vise grip, but his smile remained in place as he commented, "A little tight, Charlie."

"Sorry," she apologized, but still squeezed him one last time before finally releasing him.

"This another ex-boyfriend?" Connor questioned as he turned to look over at his father.

"No. Brother," Bass corrected as he stared pale-faced over at the two youngest Mathesons.

Connor peered over at the girl that the boy had arrived with and noticed that he didn't seem to be the only one relieved that this was some mystery brother that no one had ever bothered to tell him about and not fresh competition.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! :) Updates of this should be coming pretty regularly.**


	2. Chapter 2

When Danny managed to get Charlie alone for a moment he questioned, "What are we doing working with Monroe?"

"It's complicated," his sister admitted. "I didn't want to work with him at first either. In fact I was trying to kill him when we ended up running into each other, but we need him. We've got a common enemy and we could use him."

"I get that, but you trust him?" Danny asked.

"I don't really have much choice," Charlie admitted with a shrug. "But he saved my life, more than once, so I guess I do."

"Okay then."

Danny trusted Charlie and if she trusted Monroe, then that was good enough for him. At least for the time being anyways.

* * *

"You are not coming with us," Rachel insisted. "We just got you back, you're covered in bruises. You look like hell and I am _not_ risking losing you again."

"I'm not staying behind. It's not safe for anyone here anyways," Danny argued. "I'm fine. I've already done enough resting. I'm going."

"Listen to the kid, Rachel," Miles commented in an amused tone. "He wants to impress his girlfriend. We're all screwed no matter what. If we go down, he's not going to be safe anyways... Besides, we both know that he'll just show up by himself anyways if we try to leave him behind."

"He's right," Danny agreed.

"Fine, but you had better be careful," his mother insisted. "I'm not losing you again."

Danny watched her leave the room before turning to his uncle and pointing out, "Heather's not my girlfriend."

"Sure, she's not," Miles agreed with a smug smirk.

"No, really. I barely even know her," Danny insisted. Sure, she had given him food and water, a bed to sleep in, and clothes to wear. He was grateful for her help and liked her, but they still barely knew each other, despite the way that Miles was smirking over at him like they had been secretly dating for months.

"Right," his uncle agreed in an unconvincing tone. "Well, she seems interested in you."

Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he walked away from the other man.

* * *

Heather had already snuck them into the train-yard and was about to go back to work as usual, but she hesitated for a moment as her eyes lingered on Danny. "Be careful, alright?" She asked him.

"I will," he promised her.

Heather paused for a moment, shifting on her feet for a moment before she took a step closer and kissed him on the cheek. She turned and quickly walked away, looking back over her shoulder at him once on her way.

Once she was out of sight, Danny turned to find his sister and uncle both beaming over at him like a couple of little kids.

* * *

Trusting Monroe was already proving to have been a mistake when he showed up with Tom Neville, his son, and a guy Danny thought that he had heard someone call Scanlon to try to take the train from them. Between Tom and Monroe, he was stuck in another confrontation against two of his least favourite people, although even they were a tough competition with the Patriots that had taken him.

As Miles was held at gunpoint by Bass and Connor had his gun pointed at Charlie, Danny stood and watched in silence. He could tell from the way that Charlie and Connor were looking at each other that there had been something going on between them. Clearly his sister's taste had gotten worse since he had last seen her.

Tom turned his gun on Charlie then and Bass tried to stop him, which only resulted in Neville barking out about how she had killed his son. Danny could no longer remain quiet as he demanded, "You think Charlie killed Jason? That's ridiculous. She would never-"

Charlie cut him off then with a small shake of her head and her voice cracked a little as she insisted, "Danny, don't."

He stared at her in shock, but remained silent while he watched his uncle stand between Charlie and Neville's gun as Monroe turned his own gun on Tom.

* * *

As they drove off to go try to stop the mustard gas, Danny turned his attention over to Charlie and commented, "Nice boyfriend you chose."

"He's not my boyfriend," Charlie argued.

"Well I can see why he's not anymore," Danny agreed.

"You two do realize that I can hear you, right?" Monroe asked irritably.

"It's not our fault your kid decided to ditch out," Danny pointed out.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"Don't get too excited," Connor warned his father when he returned within days of skipping out with Tom. "I'm only back because Neville turned out to be even crazier than you are."

Before Bass even had the chance to respond, his son had already headed straight past him and into the safe house. He turned his head to find his friend smirking over at him and asked, "What?"

"He's not wrong about the crazy thing," Miles responded.

"Shut up."

* * *

"Back already?" Charlie asked with a smirk.

She had reason to be relieved that he was back, but she certainly was not about to admit that to him.

"Only because I don't have anywhere else to go," Connor responded. His dad had made sure of that. "Don't get too used to it."

* * *

"So what happened with Jason?" Danny questioned when he got a moment alone with his sister.

"The Patriots drugged him. Put a tattoo in his eye and brainwashed him into following their orders. He tried to kill me because of that," she responded. Her voice cracked a little as she added, "So I did what I had to."

"Is that why you were grabbing at my face like a weirdo when I first got here?" He asked her. "You thought they did that to me too?"

"Yeah," she told him, clearly not enjoying the conversation. She forced a smile onto her lips as she added, "But at least they didn't brainwash you, right? ...Hey, I bet there's a bunch of stuff around here that neither of us knows about. You want to go hunting?"

* * *

"Have you seen Charlie around?" Miles questioned.

"I haven't seen her or Danny in hours," Priscilla responded.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Aaron told him. "They used to disappear like this on Ben all the time pretending to be hunting when really they were just looking around to see what old junk they could find."

Miles grumbled some incoherent complaint and then turned out of the room.

"You're welcome!" Aaron called out after him.

* * *

"Are you really going to go run around in the woods scavenging for junk?" Connor questioned, not even making the slightest effort to disguise his criticism.

"You should come with us," Charlie told him. "It's better than sitting around here. Besides, what else do you have to do?"

She had a point there. He didn't have a whole lot to do around there, or even in general anymore. That didn't mean he had to be enthusiastic about his limited options though.

"Whatever."

* * *

Connor resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he watched Charlie climb a tree. That's right, she was _actually _climbing a tree. Just for the hell of it. Ever since her brother came back she was acting like a total kid. It was ridiculous.

Once she reached a high enough branch, she paused and then leapt from it to land on top of an old shed. Unfreakingbelievable. The thing was so old and shabby that it was a wonder it held up. Connor wouldn't have risked that unless his life had depended on it and she was sitting up there, with her legs dangling over the edge of the roof, and a proud smile upon her lips.

"Coming up?" She questioned.

"Not a chance," he muttered under his breath, although he knew that she couldn't hear him.

He actually did roll his eyes as he watched Heather eagerly move to follow her up the tree. It was probably the most excitement the girl got in her mundane life. It was pathetic and he didn't want to be a part of it. How the hell had he wound up stuck at the damn kiddy table? Not that the adults around this place were much better.

Danny and Heather had stopped in the tree and she was laughing at something that he had just said as Charlie's attention shifted over to Connor.

"Are you really going to stay down there?" She asked as if _he_ was the weird one.

"Yeah. I'm _really_ going to stay down here," he confirmed. He was about ready to head back already. He was sure he could find some better way to spend his time than witnessing Charlie's mental break.

He crossed his arms and looked away, debating whether it was worth going back and risking another painful attempt on his father's behalf at talking to him.

He had just decided that it wasn't worth it when he felt something hit him in the back of the head. He turned back around and found Charlie smirking as she looked over in her brother's direction in the worst show at innocence Connor had ever seen. That kind of act would have gotten her killed, and probably none too gently, if she had pulled that shit in Mexico.

"Cute," he commented sarcastically. "I'm leaving."


	4. Chapter 4

Connor was beyond fed up with Charlie's change in attitude since her brother had come back. It had become clear that nobody else was going to say anything about it though, so he took it upon himself to be the bearer of bad news.

The next time he got her alone, he asked her, "You do realize that you're not a kid anymore and neither is your brother, right? Because pretending like you are and nothing changed isn't helping anyone."

Not to mention how ridiculous it was and how much it got on his nerves.

"I know we're not little kids anymore," she pointed out with a frown. "But is having a little fun after everything really the worst thing?"

"You're acting like a completely different person," Connor argued. "And I don't see how you aren't embarrassed running around like suddenly you're a little kid again."

Now Charlie was really irritated.

"Oh, right," she told him sarcastically. "I forgot that you came out full grown and serious. Probably wearing a suit too."

"Just because I don't act on every little impulse I get doesn't mean I'm too serious," he insisted. "It just makes me practical."

Charlie decided not to point out that one of those impulses he was criticizing was the only reason anything had ever happened between them.

"You can't have always been like this," she pointed out. "At some point you must have been a normal kid and have wanted to be something."

He didn't answer her. Sure, he'd been a kid before, but he wasn't about to start acting like one again now. He had learned to grow up fast when he'd had to look after himself while his mom had been at work.

"Come on, you must have wanted to be something else before you decided you wanted to be the leader of a republic." When he still didn't budge, she admitted, "I wanted to be a ballerina before the blackout. There must have been some kind of job you thought about before the power went out."

"Fine," Connor snapped, if only to get her to stop prodding. He really did not like this new version of Charlie. "If you really need to know, I wanted to be a mechanic."

Charlie let out a laugh at that. The idea of little Connor's grand dream being to become a mechanic seemed so out of character.

"You wanted to be a mechanic?" She repeated skeptically. "Seriously?"

He wasn't finished though and his voice rose to a shout as he asked her, "You want to know why? Because my mom told me that was what my dad was and I was stupid enough to want to be just like him."

She stopped laughing now, but he wasn't sticking around for the rest of the conversation. Instead, he stormed out of the room.

Charlie went to find her brother to distract herself from her argument with Connor, but Heather Matthews had come around again and Charlie didn't want to interrupt the pair who was sitting out on the grass together, in the middle of a conversation.

* * *

"So what's the deal with Connor and your sister?" Heather asked. "I can't tell if they really like each other or if they really don't."

"I don't know," Danny admitted. "There was something going on there, but Charlie says there's nothing anymore. I can't imagine what she ever saw in him though."

It still baffled him that Charlie had become anything with Monroe's son who, from what Danny had seen, was giving Miles a run for his money in the grump department. Still, it was weird how much attention Charlie was giving the guy even now and how hard she was trying to get him to spend time with her, considering she supposedly wasn't at all interested.

Personally, Danny wished that Connor had never come back after disappearing for a few days. Everything would have been just perfect if he had disappeared and taken his asshole of a father with him.

* * *

Charlie and Connor didn't talk for the rest of the day until finally Charlie found him sitting by himself outside that night, drinking in the darkness.

She watched him for a moment, then walked over and sat down beside him. The silence stretched out for a long time, then Connor silently offered his bottle out to her. She shook her head no, then he shrugged and took a long swig for himself.

"Go ahead," he told her in a voice just above a whisper. "Say it."

"Say what?" She asked him.

"What we both know you're thinking," he responded. "That I'm still that stupid little kid trying to be like the father I don't even know. That that's why I want the republic back."

They sat in an uncomfortable silence. Charlie couldn't disagree with him, but she also felt bad about the fight and wanted to give him a break. He took another sip of his drink, then finally she broke the silence as she admitted, "Look, you were right about the Danny thing."

He turned to look at her for the first time since she had sat down.

"I know that everything's different now and we can't just go back to the way it used to be before all of this," she pointed out. "But it was nice getting to pretend for a few days."

"Yeah, well I was dumb to try and be like my dad. I'm done trying to make him go through with the republic thing," Connor told her. "I'm done with him and I'm done with being anything like him."

Charlie really hoped that was the truth.

* * *

The next day, Connor was irritated when he accidentally turned into a room he thought was empty and ended up alone with the youngest Matheson. At least it wasn't his father he was stuck in a room alone with, but this wasn't that big of a step above that.

He was debating turning right back around and leaving, but Danny started talking before he got the chance.

"Just so you know, I can't stand your dad," the boy said, as if Connor really gave a damn what his opinion on Monroe was. "And I don't like you much better."

"Well, thanks for clearing that up," Connor muttered out sarcastically. "I'm not really a fan of yours either, especially considering how ridiculous your sister's been acting ever since you got back."

Danny narrowed his eyes as he warned, "Stay away from my sister. She's way too good for you."

"I'm pretty sure that's her call. Not yours," Connor pointed out, even though there wasn't a whole hell of a lot of anything going on between him and Charlie anymore and he wasn't planning on sticking around for much longer anyways. "But I _will_ stay away from you. Mainly because you're getting on my nerves."

With that, the older man turned and walked back out of the room and Danny decided to go find his sister and tell her just what the nice guy she had picked out was saying about her behind her back.

* * *

Charlie pulled her tank top on over her head and then frowned as she looked down at her midsection. She was starting to show and she knew it. At the very least people were going to start to realize that she was gaining weight soon.

She stepped in front of the mirror and sheepishly looked into it. It didn't show so much from the front, so she nervously slid the fabric of her shirt up over her stomach as she turned to the side to get a look from that angle. It was just a small bump, it probably wouldn't even be noticeable if she wasn't looking for it, but it still filled her with a feeling of dread.

Maybe it was a small bump today, but what about tomorrow? Or the day after that? She couldn't keep hiding this thing forever, but she was afraid to admit to it. Somehow that seemed like it would make it real and not just a problem that a part of her had been hoping would get rid of itself.

"Hey, Charlie-"

She froze and turned around to face the door, eyes wide open, as her brother stepped into the room. By the time she thought to pull her shirt back down and cross her arms over her stomach the damage was already done. He had seen the mirror she'd been staring at her belly in and put two and two together. She could see it in his eyes, so she decided to look away as she moved to go grab her jacket up off of the chair and quickly pulled it on.

"Is it his?" Danny asked quietly. Even as soft as his voice was, Charlie still wished that her brother would keep it down more in case someone else decided to waltz in unannounced.

She looked down and zipped her jacket up ever so slowly before looking back up at her brother again as she questioned, "Is it whose?"

"You know who," Danny insisted. "Is it Monroe's kid's?"

"He has a name," Charlie deflected.

"Does he know yet?" Her brother prodded.

"Not yet," Charlie snapped back a little too aggressively. "No one does. Except, I guess, for you now. And you can't tell anyone."

"You have to tell him eventually, you know," Danny pointed out. "And pretty soon people are going to start being able to figure it out for themselves, even if you don't tell them."

"I know," his sister responded with a sigh. "But I'm just not ready to tell him yet, alright? So please just don't act weird or say anything."

"Fine, I won't say anything," he gave in. "At least for now."

"Thank you."

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! :)**


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